Whaley Foodservice Email Unsubscribes

The Business Challenge

The company stores contacts in a back end SQL database and interacts with customers using an ERP system. Messages are sent to customers using the SendGrid API triggered by certain events, such as a technician being dispatched to the place of business. A customer has an opportunity to unsubscribe to the e-mails, and SendGrid keeps a record of bounces that occur due to an e-mail address being incorrect. Those unsubscribes and bounces needed to be pulled from SendGrid so issues could be corrected in the back end system.

Solution Considerations

• The solution should be automated to minimize the time employees need to spend.

• There should be a "task list" in the form of a spreadsheet that employees can work through, call the customer if necessary, and fix the issue in the back end.

• Once an issue is fixed with an e-mail address, that issue should not appear in the task list the next day

• Once an issue is fixed, the customer should start receiving e-mails again under the new address

• If the customer has unsubscribed in SendGrid, they should also be unsubscribed to other similar lists within the company

Solution's Impact on the Business

• Unsubscribes flow to other systems, improving customer experience and falling in line with regulatory requirements

• Excel reports provide a streamlined workflow for correcting bad email addresses

• Recipients can be sent future emails using the corrected address